Chapter 236   Extreme Strength Pill, Moonlight Pill

Gao Zhice’s near 50% perfect-grade success rate was already ridiculous.

And a success rate of 100% was even more unimaginable.

Instantly, everyone present had a thought. Did he really not cheat and swap the pills? “Are you sure he refined these pills?”

A core disciple behind Pei Xuewen asked the man in white who had told them Xu Ning had successfully refined the pills. He had a doubtful look on his face, but he did not ask Xu Ning directly.

Xu Ning saw this and raised his eyebrows.

This was rather disrespectful.

But he didn’t seem to care.

When everyone’s attention was on Gao Zhice just now, Xu Ning activated hiw dao realm alchemy technique, the Red Sea Pill Sutra, and threw fifteen sets of materials into the furnace.

The speed at which he refined fifteen perfect pills was even faster than Gao Zhice.

But when the pills were ready, Xu Ning did not make any noise, so everyone’s attention was not on him.

“Yes, ever since the pills were being refined, I have been observing him.”

The man in white who was responsible for monitoring the candidates said, “He threw in fifteen sets of raw materials and took out these fifteen pills.”

After receiving the affirmation from the white-clothed person, the core disciple who asked just now stopped talking.

Everyone looked at Xu Ning with complicated expressions. Unlike Gao Zhice, Xu Ning came out of nowhere and was a stranger to them, so Xu Ning’s impact on them was far greater than Gao Zhice’s.

‘I wonder where this master alchemist came from…’

Gao Zhice’s heart was complicated. At the beginning, he was calm and composed, thinking that no one could compare to him in this assessment.

But when he saw Xu Ning use the same technique as him, but with a 100% success rate, Gao Zhice felt a strong sense of frustration.

‘It’s okay, there is still the second assessment, as long as I perform better than him in the second assessment. After all, the first assessment is only refining basic medicinal pills. For master alchemists, refining scarce and difficult medicinal pills is the true assessment of our skill level.’ Gao Zhice comforted himself in his mind.

“May I ask for your name?”

Pei Xuewen dropped her airs and took the initiative to ask Xu Ning.

“Xu Ning.”

Xu Ning gave a simple response.

“Xu Ning…”

Pei Xuewen only received a name, but she did not ask further.

In his opinion, Xu Ning would definitely become this year’s core disciple, so there would be plenty of opportunities to learn more in the future.

“I look forward to your performance in the second assessment.”

Pei Xuewen gave everyone a look.

They stepped away from Xu Ning and walked to the front of the field.

“Someone is stronger than Gao Zhice?” “Xu Ning, I have never heard of this name. Is he not from State Guqing?”

There was a flurry of discussion.

When people were impatient, refining medicinal pills in such a state was more difficult. For the other candidates whose mental states were affected, this also increased the difficulty of the assessment.

However, this kind of external impact was a part of the assessment.

Otherwise, the candidates present would have been assigned to an alchemy room for the assessment.

‘Brother Xu’s level is comparable to Gao Zhice?’ Zheng Yiqing couldn’t calm down for a long time.

When they were travelling together, out of courtesy, he didn’t ask Xu Ning too much in detail. He just regarded Xu Ning as an outsider who didn’t know much about State Guqing’s alchemy circle.

But the facts proved that Xu Ning was not only an alchemy expert, but a master alchemist.

“Hu…”

Zheng Yiqing took a long breath and calmed down.

‘Brother Xu’s performance is so amazing, I can’t compare to him. It’s better for me to pass the first assessment first.’

Zheng Yiqing adjusted his mental state and began to refine pills one by one. As for Xu Ning, he sat at the table and quietly observed the other alchemists.

Xu Ning also noticed that Gao Zhice was paying attention to him from time to time. He obviously regarded him as a competitor.

Xu Ning didn’t care.

Soon, four hours went by.

During this period of time, many candidates who had problems with the refinement process took the initiative to leave before the time was up.

As time passed, there were fewer and fewer candidates in the venue.

Due to the influence of Gao Zhice and Xu Ning, the number of people who successfully passed the first assessment was lower than Pei Xuewen’s expectations of fifty people, with only thirty-seven people passing. “I did it!”

Zheng Yiqing reached the requirements at the final moment.

He successfully refined all fifteen medicinal pills, with eight of them being of superior quality.

Zheng Yiqing was overjoyed. He had never passed the first assessment before when he came here the past two times.

“Congratulations, Brother Zheng.”

Xu Ning whispered.

“Brother Xu, I really can’t judge you by your cover.”

Zheng Yiqing sighed.

During their journey together, Xu Ning had never revealed his strength and true level. He had always communicated with him as an equal.

According to the difference between their realm and alchemy skills, Zheng Yiqing knew very well that if everything was placed on the stage, he was not qualified to compete with Xu Ning.

“Don’t say that.”

Xu Ning waved his hand. “Adjust your state of mind and prepare for the second assessment.”

“Okay.”

Zheng Yiqing stopped talking and waited for the second assessment.

After reviewing the qualified candidates for the first round, Pei Xuewen announced the start of the second round. Green-clothed servants appeared and brought the medicinal materials needed for the second assessment.

This time, they brought along thirty types of medicinal materials, with each medicinal material being of equal quantity. “Oh?”

Xu Ning looked at the medicinal materials and noticed something special.

“After mixing and matching these thirty medicinal materials, there are more than ten types of medicinal pills that can be refined.”

Xu Ning thought to himself, ‘But just like what Pei Xuewen said before, the second assessment tests one’s knowledge and skill with the limited spirit herbs provided. The higher the level of the pill refined, and the better the quality, the higher the evaluation it would be given.’

“In the second assessment, you only need to refine one pill, and you are allowed to fail multiple times. As long as there are enough medicinal materials, your number of times you can refine your desired pill will not be limited. Thus, I hope everyone can challenge your limits as much as possible. Only by doing better can you stand out in our assessment.”

Pei Xuewen stood in front and said, “Okay, the second assessment begins now. Time limit: two hours.”

The time for the second assessment was half of the previous one.

Unlike last time, after Pei Xuewen spoke, no one immediately began.

Everyone, including Xu Ning and Gao Zhice, who performed spectacularly in the previous assessment, were deep in thought.

This assessment seemed to have a high degree of freedom, but it was also extremely difficult.

Ordinary candidates would think about how to find a balance between the level of the pill and the success rate of refining that specific pill in order to obtain a high evaluation.

On the other hand, Xu Ning and Gao Zhice were thinking about how to refine the most difficult pill.

Especially Gao Zhice, who had been stimulated by Xu Ning previously, had an obsession with winning now.

‘In my knowledge, there are a total of sixteen types of medicinal pills that can be refined.’ Xu Ning weighed his options and said, “The hardest among them is a pill called the Extreme Strength Pill recorded in the Red Sea Demon Lord’s alchemy encyclopedia. According to the alchemy encyclopedia, this Extreme Strength Pill is not famous in the outside world, so not many people know about it. Moreover, it has some demonic path characteristics.”

“This one it is…’

Xu Ning finally made a decision. “With my abilities, I should be able to guarantee a 50% success rate. The quantity of these medicinal materials is enough for me to refine the pill twice. Therefore, the probability of success is extremely high.” After making up his mind, Xu Ning began to make his moves.

‘He has already begun…’

When Gao Zhice noticed that Xu Ning had already taken action, his heart tightened.

“Forget it, I will refine a Moonlight Pill.”

Gao Zhice also made a decision. The Moonlight Pill was the most difficult pill to refine in Gao Zhice’s knowledge with the limited spirit herbs provided.

‘A Moonlight Pill is even effective on an elementary level dao realm master. Moreover, it is also a dao realm pill. Once refined, I will definitely be the winner.’

Gao Zhice thought to himself, ‘But that Xu Ning may also choose to refine a Moonlight Pill, so I have to ensure that it is of superior-grade. If it is superior-grade, he should not be able to surpass me.’

Afterwards, Gao Zhice took action.

“What kind of pills do you think Gao Zhice will refine?”

The core disciples began to talk.

“It must be the Moonlight Pill.”

A disciple said, “With his temperament, since he was suppressed by Xu Ning just now, he definitely wants to prove himself in this assessment. Therefore, he will definitely choose the most difficult Moonlight Pill.”

“Xu Ning is probably also refining a Moonlight Pill as well. I’m afraid the quality of the Moonlight Pill will determine the win.”

“However, everything is uncertain. What if they refine some kind of pill that we have no knowledge of?”

“How is that possible? We have been with Master for a long time, and our knowledge of medicinal pills is already extremely deep. How can there be medicinal pills that we don’t know about?”

The core disciples communicated with each other while observing Gao Zhice and Xu Ning.

Xu Ning had taken away most of the attention that was originally on Gao Zhice.

The assessment was in progress.

Pak!

Suddenly, Gao Zhice’s expression changed. A wisp of white smoke emerged from the furnace in front of him.

“Gao Zhice’s first refinement failed.”

Pei Xuewen noticed this.

“Gao Zhice actually failed his first refinement of the Moonlight Pill…” “It’s okay, he has three chances to refine a Moonlight Pill with the materials in front of him.”

The core disciples were talking.

Gao Zhice’s expression was a little ugly. He noticed that Xu Ning was still calmly refining.

‘I was too impatient. He has affected my mental state.’

Gao Zhice forcibly calmed down and began his second refinement.

He knew that if he did not adjust, he might not even be able to pass the assessment.

“The Extremely Strength Pill… is done!”

After half an hour, the furnace in front of Xu Ning trembled slightly. Suddenly, a gray pill jumped out of the pill furnace and landed in Xu Ning’s hand.